Votes Outside the House Rules: January 10 to February 7, 2011

Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution says of Congress that “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.” But from time to time, leaders of the House of Representatives have expedited proceedings by suspending the Rules of the House and bringing bills up for quick consideration without amendment or debate. When he was in the minority last year, such behavior irked John Boehner:

“Leaders overreach because the rules allow them to. Legislators duck their responsibilities because the rules help them to. And when the rules donâ€™t suit the majority’s purposes, they are just ignored.

Thereâ€™s no accountability, and there are no consequences. Whether we here in Washington believe this or not, the people clearly do. Think about how our constant flouting of the rules sits with a small business owner who has to spend his or her day complying with all the mandates and regulations our government sends down.”

Now that John Boehner is Speaker of the House and in control of the majority and the Rules Committee itself, how often will he overreach or ignore the House Rules? How often will he abide by the House Rules, which were passed under his own administration to great fanfare and the reading of the Constitution in January of 2011?